


Starchild

by ZoisiteMoon



Series: The Gemstone Saga [2]
Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: Death in Childbirth, F/F, F/M, Teen Pregnancy, Unplanned Pregnancy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-03-28
Updated: 2014-07-16
Packaged: 2018-09-11 11:16:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Major Character Death
Chapters: 13
Words: 9,160
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8977444
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ZoisiteMoon/pseuds/ZoisiteMoon
Summary: 16-year-old Steven had no idea what he was getting himself into when he did the nasty with Amethyst. Now all they can do is wait...





	1. Chapter 1

A single thunderclap could be heard throughout the Temple. It was about 1:30 in the morning and the clouds outside had already accumulated, surely a sign that there would be rain.

Sixteen-year-old Steven had fallen asleep on the couch about an hour ago, yet it felt like no time had passed at all. It was impossible not to move while in this daze; something had been panging at him from within. It only took a second for him to realize he was hungry, and so he woke up.

There surely had to be some food somewhere around here; he had to scour for the desired object for a few minutes before eventually stumbling across a plate of miniature red velvet loaves accompanied by a bowl of what appeared to be powdered sugar.

 _Gotta hurry..._ he thought to himself. _If they caught me up this late, they'd kill me! 'Specially Jade... I've already seen how angry she can be._

He trudged over to a part of the counter where the plate was resting and carried it back with him to the couch. Once there, he began to consume the red velvet loaves one by one, occasionally seasoning them with the white powder in the bowl. Soon, there were only two of them left; while they had satisfied the adolescent boy greatly, they couldn't ease the overwhelming sense of guilt he now felt. Someone, probably Garnet, had made them and they seemed to have been prepared for a special occasion, though what it was he didn't really know. He figured it would be best to go back to sleep, so he tried... but not before noticing a paper-white rabbit dashing across the floor in his peripheral vision.

Confused by this, Steven decided to follow the bunny anyway in the hopes of catching it. Of course, it didn't occur to him then that rabbits could simply look behind themselves for incoming predators and pursue flight, and that's exactly what the lagomorph did.

"Hey, wait!" the half-Gem hybrid called out. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to scare you."

But the rabbit continued to hop off and then it proceeded to... phase through the wall? The strange turn of events confused the boy even more, but once again suspension of disbelief came into play and he resumed his stalking. After phasing through the wall, he no longer found himself inside the Temple but rather in the Mineralis Dimension and more specifically the Chalcopyrite Queendom.

"Okay..." he muttered to himself. "...that was weird. Where'd it go?"

The rabbit had somehow managed to vanish into thin air when it came here, but that didn't deter the lad from continuing on. He figured it'd probably gone into the Temple of the Venerable Goddess and decided to visit the sacred place to make sure. Once inside, he saw the faces of the priestesses who had helped raise his mother Rose Quartz when she was a young girl. There was lilac Kunzite, yellowish-green Sulphur, bright red Ptilolite, and metallic blue Shattuckite. He definitely remembered them out of all the others, and they seemed kind enough to help him. But as he inched closer towards them, they took a step back. Once again, this brought confusion to his mind and this time, it stuck around. He kept walking to them, but they still stepped away. Just as he took another step, the temple floor started distorting and shifted into pink crystalline form. First it absorbed his foot and converted the skin and muscles to mineral; it then moved on to the rest of his body and he started screaming.

"What did I ever do to you to deserve this?" Steven asked woefully as the floor consumed him.

Suddenly, Shattuckite spoke out. Her words were, "You've been thinking very naughty thoughts of your mother, Steven. Do not deny it. You know very well it's true."

Steven shook his head rapidly in denial and kept shooting at the accusation with his negative proverbial responses, but every single one missed. Shattuckite kept shouting accusations of having incestuous thoughts at the boy, and soon the three other priestesses joined her. He shouted for his friends, his family (even crying out to his father at one point), and even the Venerable Goddess Herself to help him; the pleas, unfortunately, fell on deaf ears. By the time he had stopped pleading for help, his respiratory system was starting to shut down and he was becoming disoriented. He gave up hope and started crying, but just as he was about to start suffocating to death, everything went dark and only a whacking sound was heard.


	2. Chapter 2

"That oughta do it!" Steven thought he heard a nearly-pubescent girl announce.

He slowly opened his eyes to see Aquamarine standing over him while holding a frying pan. Also with her were Tanzanite, Diamond, Amethyst, Jade, Fluorite, and Topaz. (Pearl and Garnet were absent from the scene because they had to go back to the Chalcopyrite Queendom a few years earlier to be its new queens.)

"Thank the Pantheon you're alright!" the new leader Tanzanite cried out in joy. "I noticed that you ingested quite a lot of Scorpion Powder."

"Scorpion what?" Steven asked out of confusion.

"Scorpion Powder. That white stuff in the bowl."

"Oh! I thought that was confectioner's sugar!"

"That's a common mistake, my boy. Scorpion Powder, though, is a hallucinogen. At the dosage you took into your body, it should've killed you. Lucky for you, your immune system's strength is equivalent to that of a full Gem's."

The sixteen-year-old smiled before noticing that his friends were lifting him up on his feet and taking him upstairs to his "room."

*********************

He sat up in bed, eagerly awaiting the most important meal of the day.

"Not yet," Tanzanite answered when Steven asked if his breakfast was ready. "It will be in just a moment."

Just as Tanzanite was departing downstairs to tend to the food, Aquamarine came up to Steven with Diamond behind her. Steven was initially a bit confused by this, but then Diamond explained that she was making Aquamarine apologize for hitting him in the head earlier with the frying pan.

"So that's where the whacking sound came from..." the sixteen-year-old muttered.

"Aw, come on, Diamond!" Aquamarine protested. "Do I really have to do this? It was the only thing I could think of that would wake him up."

"Just get it over with, Aqua," Diamond sternly responded. "Besides, you might've made things worse."

Aquamarine sighed in defeat. "Alright," she grumbled. "Sorry I hit you with the frying pan earlier..."

While he was quick to forgive her (as well as be grateful), it was still a bit of an annoyance. Nevertheless, he got over it and just in time too.

Tanzanite and Jade came up with a tray full of waffles (six of them stacked on top of each other) covered in what looked like gallons of maple syrup, chocolate chips, marshmallows, dollops of whipped cream and a raspberry delicately placed at the very top. Steven wasn't the only one looking at the glorious meal with hungry lust; Amethyst and Aquamarine were eyeing it too, and apparently so was Jade. The breakfast was so beautiful that Steven couldn't but scream in delight.

"Are you okay?" Tanzanite asked, panicking a bit but trying to subdue herself.

"Yeah, yeah," Steven quickly answered. "I'm so sorry..."

*************

A few minutes of awkward silence passed before Steven, Amethyst, Aquamarine and Jade were left by themselves. All four of them were staring at the waffles as though it were a naked woman, and they blushed with such intensity that they were afraid they'd break all the blood vessels in their faces.

 _Oh man._ Steven thought to himself while looking at the meal. _How could I possibly eat all of this?_

He then turned to Amethyst and asked her rather awkwardly, "Um, would you guys like to... share this with me?"

The three Gems looked at each other for a minute and thought, before focusing their attention on him and answering with a smile, "Yeah, why not?"

All four of them produced a fork and began to slowly and tenderly eat small bits of the waffles, one bite after another while savoring the delicious diabetes fuel. This would go on for over thirty minutes, if one did not the breaks they made for staring at one another.

About five-sixths of the way through, Steven couldn't help but notice how much whipped cream and syrup was on Amethyst's face and decided to do something about it.

"Could I get that for you?" he asked Amethyst, pointing to the stuff on her face.

Amethyst was caught a bit off-guard by this, but nevertheless accepted. 

Suddenly, Steven licked the stuff off and kissed her sweet, plump lips; his gem also started glowing. Aquamarine and Jade saw this and ran to the nearest space so they could watch what they thought was going to happen next. The pink gem glowed dimly at first, as was Amethyst's. As Amethyst leaned her body closer toward his, she noticed there was a bulge in his pants and suddenly realized that she was apparently turning him on. Her legs gave way and her pelvis landed on his torso, knocking the wind out of him for a moment. Their gems were gradually glowing brighter and brighter, and the spectators knew this. Steven felt something tickle his neck; it was almost as if a butterfly had landed there and was walking around. He instantly caught on that Amethyst was giving him neck sugars and played along. He embraced her and she started panting like a cat in labor, which was an even huger turn-on for him. His hand ran up her blouse and undid her bra, liberating her breasts from bondage and making them vulnerable to squishing.

This went on for maybe fifty-five minutes before they eventually started levitating and were overcome by a bright white light. Unfortunately, this light was enough to temporarily blind Aquamarine and Jade and they screamed like banshees awakening from their tombs.

It was only a moment in time before the two lovers realized they were outside just as the morning was beginning to make way for the afternoon. At least no one was watching. Steven had never felt so high in his life, not since he had ingested the Scorpion Powder. He broke away from Amethyst and gasped for air. It wasn't like he hadn't done this before, but this was definitely the first time he had done it with a partner.

*****************

A few weeks later, Amethyst started sleeping later than usual. At first, no one thought anything strange about it and shrugged it off as just laziness. Amethyst herself had felt, well... different lately. She couldn't put her finger on it until Aquamarine had offhandedly mentioned watching her and Steven's breakfast shenanigans.

She might be onto something. Amethyst thought to herself.

She got ahold of a pregnancy test and shut herself up in the bathroom, where she was able to follow the instructions without interruption.

Several minutes later, she unveiled the final result and started crying; it was positive.


	3. Chapter 3

Amethyst was still crying long after she had seen her result. She was now beginning to hope it was a false positive. But even if it were to be the case, it was actually extremely rare to get one the first time and she knew that. She tried again with more pregnancy tests; they, too, all came up positive. It wasn't until she noticed she missed her period for nearly two weeks that it finally dawned on her that yes, she was with child.  
Feeling despondent about the whole thing, Amethyst decided there was only one thing she could do to make sure she got out of this alive and that was to induce a miscarriage. Just outright getting an abortion would've been tedious in and of itself; besides, she was almost certain it'd be painful and very expensive.

So she managed to get ahold of some caffeine pills from a pharmacy and once again shut herself up in the bathroom.

 _I must do this quickly._ she thought to herself frantically as she screwed the cap off of the bottle.

She then poured the pills onto the palm of her left hand as more anxious thoughts ran through her mind. But just as she was bringing them toward her mouth...

"Stop!" someone cried out.

She froze, the pills in her hand almost halfway to her mouth. Initially, she was confused by this turn of events. Then she realized who was speaking to her.

"...Rose?" Amethyst asked aloud. "Aren't you dead?"

For some reason, she couldn't see her fallen friend but she could definitely hear her.

"Yes," the disembodied voice replied. "But that doesn't matter right now. You can't kill the child."

"Why not?" the violet-hued Gem asked again.

"It's a sacred part of life. All life should be cherished."

"How do you even know it's alive?"

"I just do. Trust me, Amethyst. You'll regret it if you go through with this."

Suddenly, an image of a child dying flashed in Amethyst's mind. It looked like Steven but he was grievously injured and bleeding his mortality away. It was too much for the violet Gem to bear, and she began to sob hideously.

"Alright, alright, you've won!" she blubbered. "Just leave me alone!" She then dropped the caffeine pills onto the floor and curled into a ball.

"Amethyst?" someone else asked from behind the door. It was Tanzanite; she'd heard everything. "Who are you talking to?"

Amethyst whipped her head around to see what it was. Surely it was just another voice in her head? No matter. She now had a new goal in mind: carry the child to term.


	4. Chapter 4

The next morning, Amethyst sat alongside the shore, moping over her plight. This had been a really stressful time for her ever since she discovered her pregnancy; it hadn't helped that remorse from attempting a miscarriage earlier was now taking over. What could she do now? After all, Steven was the kid's father and she its carrier. Still, she needed to be strong and diligent, more so than ever. And there were lots of things to plan out for the future, especially what was to be her departure.

"Amethyst?" an eerily-familiar soprano rang out.

The violet-hued Gem whipped her head around to see an eighteen-year-old blonde woman named Roxanne who looked very much like Jennifer Lawrence: same curvy body, same sleek face, same brown eyes, and same large delectable breasts. Here, though, Roxanne was about 5'3", just a few inches taller than her older sister Sadie. The eighteen-year-old had on a two-piece rainbow swimsuit which seemed to have been made from the same fabric, platform flip-flops, oversized pink gradient shades, and a straw trilby.

"Roxanne?" Amethyst finally spoke out. "What are you doing here?"

"I'd ask you the same thing." Roxanne replied. "I'm just going to go swimming. You?"

"I'm just going to sit here and mope over my condition."

"Oh my God. You're pregnant?"

Amethyst nodded her head morosely. "I almost killed my baby last night. I wasn't about to die, but I backed out when a friend spoke to me."

"Wow. Well, at least you stopped yourself from screwing up big-time. Oh, yeah, Sadie says hi." Roxanne then laughed a bit.

"What's so funny?" Amethyst started giggling as well.

"You sure look pretty healthy for someone who eats nothing but donuts and fry bits all day."

"You sure got sexy."

Roxanne was severely flushed in the face, to say the least. She was openly bisexual, yet she had never had a woman come onto her before. She then giggled, "And you sure are sweet for saying that." A smirk soon came upon her face as she decided to forsake her outfit altogether, save for the hat, and go into the water completely nude.

Thanks to that little risque act, Amethyst now felt a whole lot better and a whole lot confident. She seemed to have totally forgotten about her expanding abdomen and instead was focused on the gracious beauty that was Roxanne.


	5. Chapter 5

"Tell me again why we're going back to your house?" Roxanne curiously asked Amethyst as they walked back to the temple.

After Roxanne had managed to go skinny-dipping while Amethyst watched the entire time, the violet Gem had decided that they needed to cut their quality time short so she could make her great announcement. 

While Sadie's kid sister had proven to be a great distraction for about fifteen minutes, it hadn't really done anything to ward off the constant guilt Amethyst was feeling for not telling anybody else about her deadly secret.

"I just want to make sure I get this over with now," Amethyst replied with a sigh.

When they arrived at their destination, they were greeted first by Tanzanite's presence.

"I was wondering where you were," the blue Gem said to Amethyst expectantly. "At least it's nice to see that you came back in one piece."

It didn't take long for Tanzanite to notice Roxanne standing next to Amethyst.

"Oh, hello, Roxanne," she greeted the blonde girl. "I didn't see you there. Make yourself at home."

"Thanks!" Roxanne perked up with a little smile. "I've never been here before and I've been told by Sadie and her boyfriend that you guys are great! Actually, Amethyst told me on the way up here that she wanted to talk with you about something..."

"Alright, that's fine-" Tanzanite was saying before Roxanne cut her off.

"...alone." Roxanne finished.

Tanzanite diverted her attention to the violet Gem who motioned her to another room. The blue Gem was quizzical at first, wondering what Amethyst was going to say, but it wasn't long until that quiz had been answered.

"Tanzanite?" Amethyst squeaked out.

"Yes, dear?" Tanzanite asked.

"How would you feel about me being in a relationship with Steven?"

"I wouldn't really mind, so long as both of you understand that you're taking a huge risk."

"Yeah, about that..."

"Hmm?"

"I'm pregnant." Tanzanite leaned closer and prompted Amethyst to go on. "I was going to miscarry with those caffeine pills, but then Rose came to me and convinced me not to go through with it."

"Rose came to you and told you to keep the child? Well, I guess that would explain why you seemed to be speaking to thin air."

Amethyst started crying into Tanzanite's clothed cleveage. The blue Gem couldn't help but look down on her with sympathy, and embraced the pregnant Gem. It wasn't like these sort of things weren't her forte, but it did nonetheless unhinge her a bit. Why she hadn't been told this sooner was beyond her, but she knew there would be a way to pull through this.


	6. Chapter 6

"By Dolomite, dude, what'd she say?" Aquamarine asked once Amethyst told her her revelation. "Was Tanzie her usual proper self?"

Aquamarine had just gotten back from wherever she was at, and couldn't help but notice the violet Gem's wet face and ragged breathing from having stuffed her face into Tanzanite's cleavage. Jade, meanwhile, had been eavesdropping at the door when she caught word of Amethyst being pregnant.

"Well, she was a bit surprised at first..." Amethyst answered solemnly. "..but then she just let me cry into her breasts."

"Wow..." Jade just said, amazed by this whole thing. "Wait 'til Steven hears of this..."

Sitting with them were Fluorite, the former Queen Diamond, and little orange-hued Topaz. They were also very curious about what their violet friend had to say.

"Thank dey Pantheon Tanzanite took it well!" Fluorite laughed gleefully. "I can't believe I'm happy about this, either."

Topaz was confused about this; this was to be expected of her, given the fact that she was biologically a child. As for Diamond, she said nothing and instead listened intently as the rest of the present Gems talked amongst themselves. This was clearly a serious discussion they were partaking in, so of course a penny for everybody's thoughts was a totally necessary obligation. And to say nothing of this situation in particular...

"Hey, uh, when does Steven get back?" Amethyst asked Aquamarine.

"Dunno." Aquamarine simply answered. "You planning to tell him next?"

The violet Gem shakily nodded her head while biting down on her lower lip just a bit. Diamond extended her arms and embraced the dithering woman; thankfully, it was enough to calm her down before the tears started rolling. Just when the waterworks seemed to go into full effect, Roxanne casually walked into the room before shutting the door behind her.

"Oh, hi, Roxy!" Topaz greeted when she turned around to see Sadie's hot kid sister.

"Hello," Roxanne simply received. "I just wanted to let everybody know that Steven came back from visiting his great-aunt Carole and he's coming this way."

Everyone else except Amethyst just looked at each other with concern and puzzlement on their faces. They did this for about ten to fifteen minutes (while quite frankly feeling like an hour and a half).

Finally, Jade broke the silence when she asked, "Should we leave Amethyst alone?"

"Yeah..." Diamond responded uncertainly. "I'm pretty sure we have no business to be here when she tells Steven her revelation."

And so the rest of the Gems got up and left, with Roxanne trailing behind them. Soon, Amethyst was by herself awaiting her lover's entrance.


	7. Chapter 7

Amethyst was struggling to breathe. After her lover Steven had just come into her sights, she started kissing him and running her hands over him. She knew that other people could be watching, but she just didn't care.

"Whoa." was the first thing to come out of the sixteen-year-old boy's mouth. "I really appreciate the gesture, Amethyst. Honestly, I do. But I wasn't expecting a whole lot of kisses."

"I know, babe." Amethyst smiled mischievously.

"You wouldn't..." Steven began to say before abruptly pausing. He soon resumed, "...mind if I grabbed 'hold... would you?"

He had always found her butt to be pretty nice, and she was more than welcome to let him see it as much as possible. Her half-human mate placed his hands, with Amethyst's guidance of course, just barely near her rear and started to draw her towards himself. Amethyst felt her smile stretch out as she felt a bulge in his pants.

Suddenly, Amethyst seemed to remember what she was supposed to be doing and desperately freed herself from Steven's arms.

"Amethyst?" her mate asked out of confusion. "What's wrong? Don't you like this?"

"Yeah..." the violet Gem replied. "But first, I need to get something out of the way."

"Go ahead." Steven prompted on, curious to know what she was going to say.

Amethyst let out a long sigh before she said, "Steven... I'm pregnant."

The sixteen-year-old now found himself in a bit of disbelief and paralyzed with the sort of fear that only the young'uns of this world could truly experience from anticipating the future. He had been the only real person to have made love with her (Amethyst's sexual fantasies of the long-deceased Roman Emperor Tiberius and his great-nephew Caligula did not count), so of course he was the father. It took about three minutes for this life-changing news to sink in before he finally found the courage to speak again.

"You have no idea how horrified I am right now..." he began to speak at last. "...but at the same time, I'm so very happy that we'll be a family..."

Amethyst laughed nervously a bit before sighing a breath of relief. She then said, "Tanzanite and the others pretty much reacted the same way... so now what?"

"What do you mean?" her mate asked once again.

"Are you going to be there for me? Every step of the way?"

"I sure will. Why do you ask?"

"It's just... most girls I know of that are like me... they end up by themselves."

"I'm not about to leave you alone, Amethyst. You've been one of my very best friends since the beginning. It just wouldn't be right."


	8. Chapter 8

Tanzanite had always been one to pontificate on life's hardships (as well as its rewards) and everyone knew this, especially Amethyst. But that's always to be expected if you live with someone like her long enough, even if that someone may as well have figuratively passed her quirks and habits down to the maternal and now regal Pearl.

So, as Tanzanite played back the talk she had with Amethyst in her mind, she couldn't help but wonder what would be the most significant change in everybody's lives following the child's birth. It seemed like a no-brainer that first of all Amethyst would've already usurped her physical form by then. But what else could there be? She was fishing for something that would answer that question, but soon she found her thoughts interrupted when Roxanne suddenly came in.

"Sorry, I wasn't expecting you." Tanzanite craned her neck to meet the Jennifer Lawrence lookalike's face. "What are you still doing here?"

"Oh, um, I need to take a break from Sadie and Lars for once," Roxanne answered. "I don't like that I keep waking up to hear them go at it like rabbits. It's kind of embarrassing." She then giggled a bit.

Tanzanite blushed herself silly upon hearing that last part. Did this visitor really need to bring up something that lewd, and to her face no less?

"You wouldn't mind if I slept in Amethyst's room, would you?" Roxanne asked curiously while cocking her head to one side.

"Um..." Tanzanite answered while still blushing furiously. "I don't think you should sleep there. It's rather cluttered..."

"Oh..."

"...but you can have the couch instead. It's not exactly the most comfortable place to sleep, but it wouldn't hurt."

*********************************

A month and a week later, Roxanne was still a guest at the house, much to a few people's dismay. Meanwhile, Amethyst was really starting to show now. It didn't take long for Tanzanite to notice this change. In fact, she was now wondering what their friends, who were back at Chalcopyrite being the Queens, were going to think. So she went out shopping for a new wardrobe for Amethyst (since this was a customary thing to do) and dragged Aquamarine, Fluorite, and Steven along for the ride.

Roxanne and Amethyst were the only two people in the house (well, three if you counted the unborn child). Both of the ladies were a bit anxious to really do anything, and the awkward silence that lingered forever seemed thick enough that you could just stab at it with a letter opener.

 _Hot damn._ Roxanne thought to herself. _What I'd give for Amethyst to go down on me right now... just like she did with Steven._

The blonde beauty only turned her head once to gaze at the awesomeness that was Amethyst's stout curved body. The pregnancy glow had already kicked in, magnifying the sexual desires that were all but enough to give Sigmund Freud a run for his money. Sadie's kid sister did her best to resist making an advance toward the violet Gem, but just as she was about to get too far, she heard another girl ranting and raving outside.

"AUGH!" this girl was shouting. "ADSKHDKFHDHFHJKDHJKDHFHHDUF! GAHHHHH!"

 _Oh no._ Roxanne thought again. _Not now. Not now..._

Suddenly, the same girl she heard outside came into the house, steaming as thought she were in the depths of Hell itself. This visitor was Onion's girlfriend Maude. She had short strawberry-blonde hair that framed her delicate childlike face, gorgeous hazel eyes, and a twiggy but still meaty frame.

"Oh, uh..." Roxanne struggled to speak aloud. "H-hi, Maude. What's up?"

"Not much." Maude was still steaming with fury. "Wanna help me bash Mr. Universe's head in or what?!"

Amethyst giggled. "What a fruit-loop..."

"What?!" Maude asked while practically yelling.

"N-nothing, Maudey." Roxanne answered nervously. "It's nothing. Uh, listen, Maude. Why don't you worry about that later and let Onion deal with him instead? Sound cool?"

"Nah, man! I'm doing this! I'm gonna take one of my golf clubs and crush his skull to pieces! Then I'm gonna spit on his grave! Then I'm going to find his relatives, kill them, spit on their graves-"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. Easy, Maude."

Just as Maude was going to yell some more (and perhaps even make a death threat), Tanzanite and her group returned from their shopping expedition.

"Hello..." Tanzanite spoke when she saw Maude. "What's this character doing here?"

"I don't know, but she was about to leave when you came in," Roxanne responded while cuing Maude to get out.

The pissed-off girl ran out quickly, leaving whoever saw her utterly confused.

"Well, anyway..." Tanzanite spoke again. "We got a few dresses and long-sleeved shirts. Hopefully, they won't all be too small."

 _Oh, for Basalt's sake, really?_ Amethyst thought when she heard that.

"Don't worry, Amethyst." Tanzanite assured the violet Gem. "This'll only take a minute."


	9. Chapter 9

Maude stood there at the golf course, impatiently waiting. Where was that faded-out rocker hippie anyway? He was supposed to pay for "stealing" her golf clubs, which, to her, ranked up high on the list of the worst things to do to a person. It didn't make sense not to show up for something like this, at least in her mind, so what excuse could've he possibly made?

Onion decided to tag along for some reason, presumably so he could sate his sadism by watching Maude beat her victim to a bloody pulp. This made for a rather concerning situation for Roxanne and Amethyst, the remaining two people waiting.

"Are you sure this was a good idea?" Amethyst asked uncertainly. "Because I'm pretty sure having my child take the fall for me is the last thing I'd want to do."

"Look, she intimidates me as much as the next guy," Roxanne replied. "But leaving now would be a terrible idea. Besides, it'd be rude of us."

Amethyst acquiesced. Her super-cute Steven was going to show up soon anyway, so there was really no point in taking flight at all. She had her fingers crossed, though, that Maude would just forget about the whole thing and let everybody go. Of course, anybody who ever got to know the violent teenage girl would know that her memory was very nearly impeccable. And Roxanne was one of those people who knew Maude well. Soon, Amethyst sighed a breath of relief as she saw her mate and his father arrive on the scene.

"Thank the Pantheon you're here!" Amethyst laughed as she hugged Steven.

Maude ignored the PDA and focused her attention on her target. Onion would be watching the entire time with lust in his eyes.

"Alright, scumbag!" Maude yelled at her would-be victim. "Let's get one thing straight: all I want is an apology for trying to steal my golf clubs. Got it?"

"All I did was touch them!" Greg interjected in a way that doubled as complaining. "How is touching them the same as trying to stealing them?"

"Excuse me, hippie, but I want an apology, not an excuse." Now Maude was seething. "Apologize and I won't have to kill you. Otherwise, you leave me with no choice."

Now everybody except Onion seemed very anxious about what would happen next. The mute boy just continued to stare at his lover, hoping that she'd start whaling on the guy already.

Finally, Greg broke the silence when he said, "Alright, but I'll need to get something out of my van first. C'mon, Steven." He walked over to his vehicle with Steven following right behind him. The moment they got in, Greg shouted, "Floor it!"

Steven, who was in the driver's seat, did as told and managed to drive away from the scene but not before Maude tried to chase them down with a golf club in her hands.

"Hey!" Maude screamed as she started banging at the back of the van. "Where do you think you're going?! Come back here and pay for what you did!" And she chased them for about four to five miles until she gave up and headed back to the golf course.

"Ugh, what a waste of time..." Maude muttered under her breath while hunching over from exhaustion. "What was that all about?"

Later that day, practically everybody was back at the Temple. Diamond, Topaz, Tanzanite, Aquamarine, Jade, Fluorite, Peedee, Ronaldo, Rumiko, Lars, Sadie, little Nutmeg, Atari, Hitomi, and Daisuke were all seated on the floor around Roxanne, who sat upon the living room couch while holding an acoustic guitar. The audience members were talking amongst themselves about what they had done so far today and how they felt. Suddenly, Roxanne's strumming of the chords interrupted the collaborative dialogue.

"I got it!" Roxanne shouted as soon as everybody stopped talking. "I've been thinking all day on what to play, and I think I know now. This song, in a way, is a tribute to dear ol' Amethyst and her child. I'm going to play..."

"Hopefully, it's not something stupid like 'You're Beautiful!'" Lars cut in. "James Blunt sucks balls!"

Roxanne ignored her future brother-in-law and continued, "...'Capri' by Colbie Caillat." With that said, the Jennifer Lawrence strummed her guitar some more before finally playing. Then she began to sing, filling the entire living room with her lovely voice.

She started off with,

_She's got a baby inside_  
And holds her belly tight,  
All through the night  
Just so she knows  
She's sleeping so  
Safely to keep her growing.  
And, oh, when she'll open her eyes,  
There'll be no surprise  
That she'll grow to be  
So beautifully,  
Just like her mother  
That's carrying.  
Oh, Capri.  
She's beauty.  
Baby inside, she's loving.  
Oh, Capri.  
She's beauty.  
There is an angel growin' peacefully.  
Oh, Capri.  
Sweet baby...  
And things will be hard at times,  
But I've learned to try  
Just listening  
Patiently... Oh, Capri.  
Sweet baby.  
Oh, Capri!  
She's beauty  
Baby inside, she's loving.  
Oh, Capri.  
Your beauty  
Just like your mother  
That's carrying...  
Oh, Capri... 

The entire audience clapped quietly and smiled in unison. Amethyst, meanwhile, was upstairs the entire time. She couldn't help but appreciate how beautiful that song is, and best of all, now she knew what to name her baby.


	10. Chapter 10

For the next several weeks, as Amethyst began to show more and more, she secretly began to name her child Capri. She didn't really care what it was ultimately going to turn out to be, but she knew there was an 87.5% chance it would be a girl. There had always been a disproportionately high number of women among Crystal Gems, which by now had become a very commonly known fact; in fact, for the longest time until the last two centuries or so, the Gems were thought to be an all-female species like the mythical Amazons.

Still, regardless of the statistics, she wanted to make absolute sure that this child made it into the world safe and sound.

*************************

Amethyst happened to be fidgeting with the straps of her maternity bra outside the Big Donut one morning when Himika Suzumiya, who had been Mayor Dewey's widow for four years now, suddenly approached her.

"Where'd you come from?" Amethyst asked, slightly annoyed.

"I could ask you the same thing..." Himika inquired. Right away, the Japanese-American caught sight of the violet Gem's large, distended egg-shaped abdomen. "Oh, I can see you look pretty fertile. Good luck to you and the baby."

"Thank you!" Amethyst beamed. "I'm naming her Capri."

"Oh, is it a girl?"

"Well, I don't know. I just have a feeling it'll be one."

"Ah. By the way, 'Capri' sounds like it'd be a good name for your child. Do you know what it means?"

"Sure, but tell me again."

"It's Italian for 'whimsical.'"

That last part seemed very intriguing, at least for the pregnant Gem. At that moment, Steven suddenly showed up.

"Oh!" Himika was caught totally off-guard by his appearance. "Are you with this woman?"

"Yeah?" Steven asked, slightly unnerved. "Why?"

"I was just telling her about how fitting the name 'Capri' sounds for her child," the former mayor's widow answered. "Hopefully, it'll grow up to be whimsical like you are."

That seemed fair, at least to all three parties present. It was fairly obvious by now how childlike he was, especially as he was coming of age. It was always something to be admired how hopeful he was, no matter what obstacles may've been tangent or not.

"I sure hope so, because I'm pretty sure I won't be around much longer," Amethyst said.

"What do you mean?" Steven and Himika asked simultaneously out of concern.

"Steven, didn't Pearl tell you how Gems have to give up their forms to have their children?" Amethyst asked her mate.

"Well, yes, but..."

"But what?"

"I thought it was just a strange euphemism for dying."

"So has everyone else. I'm just a bit surprised you took it differently, is all."

***********************

That afternoon, Himika invited Amethyst and Steven over to her house for lunch. Her three daughters Rumiko, Atari, and Hitomi and her son Daisuke would be joining them; as for her stepson Buck and her youngest child Juno, they were noticeably absent since they'd gone out with Jenny and her sister Kiki for a "special" occasion.

"Hey, guys!" eight-year-old Daisuke greeted the couple enthusiastically.

Daisuke's jet-black hair had grown out a bit in the last four years and gained a bit of a sheen in the process. He'd grown a bit taller, too; now he was just about four feet tall.

"Hi, kiddo," Amethyst giggled as the kid hugged her belly.

Normally, she was somewhat hesitant about letting people touch her there, but Daisuke seemed like a well-behaved kid for the most part.

Next up to say hello was fifteen-year-old Hitomi. She was always pretty popular among her peers; on top of that, she and Steven had only been pretty good friends for a couple of years. Her naturally straight ink-black hair was done up in curls, which offset her steel braces rather well, and she had on a whole bunch of makeup that would've been overdone even by '80s standards.

"Ohmygosh, Steven!" Hitomi spoke with such joyous energy in her inflection. "Ican'tbelieveit! You'regoingtobeadaddy! Ijustknowthebaby'sgoingtobesocute!"

"Calm down, Hitomi." brainy seventeen-year-old Atari spoke monotonously. "Or are you jacked up on caffeine pills again?"

The comments about the caffeine pills made Amethyst cringe just a bit. She never wanted to be reminded of her own experience with them again.

"I'm sorry." Hitomi calmed down after a while. "Why don't we just eat right now?"

"Okay!" Daisuke perked up.


	11. Chapter 11

It was now the beginning of March. By this time, Amethyst's fate was completely sealed for she was now considered full-term and very likely to have her child anytime now. She knew that soon she'd have to be exanimate, at least in her gem, and join the others before her who'd sacrificed themselves. Steven was actually somewhat nervous about the upcoming birth, too, but at the same time he was looking forward to it. He could hardly wait to be a father; it was a lifelong dream of his, after all. Everybody else (including Greg's new wife Kristina Dee and her daughter Octavia as well as their twins Christian and Phaedra) was waiting anxiously as well, some more trepid than others.

Today was a rather uneventful day, at least at first. Amethyst and Steven were lying on the couch together, bored out of their minds. The violet Gem hadn't enjoyed her pregnancy all that much, since for one, she couldn't really do anything except sit around all day while expecting others to wait on her hand and foot. It wasn't like she hated being lazy; she just didn't like using being pregnant as an excuse. This was certainly no different; it didn't really help that she always seemed to be craving ramen noodles with hot sauce and chocolate (which, by far, was the strangest craving she'd ever had) but never had the energy to get it herself.  
She didn't really mind all the time she spent with her lover, though. She understood very well why she loved him, and she even admired his naivety and innocence. Yes, Amethyst was very grateful to have him in her life.

"Hey, Amethyst?" the sixteen-year-old spoke up. "You wouldn't mind if I used Capri as a ramp for my dad's Hot Wheels, would you?"

"Yeah, why not?" Amethyst spoke without even giving it a thought. Anything sounded better than just lying around right now.

He proceeded to get up and leave. Just then, Roxanne came in and sat in the just-vacant spot.

"Oh, hi, Roxanne..." Amethyst muttered dazily. "I didn't hear you come in."

"You alright?" the Jennifer Lawrence lookalike that was Sadie's kid sister asked a bit concerningly.

"Yeah, I'm just bored. Steven just got up to get some of his dad's Hot Wheels to play with."

"He's going to use your tummy as a ramp, right?" The blonde teenager couldn't help but giggle puerilely at this.

"Ha ha, very funny."

"Oh, come on, man. I know you've been moody these last several weeks, but just relax. We wouldn't want to get into a panic, would we?"

Amethyst sighed a bit deeply and settled a bit more into the couch. "No, I guess not. I'm just anxious about what's going to happen next."

"I know. Tanzanite told me you were; besides, it's perfectly normal for women of your condition to feel that way."

As Roxanne had just finished speaking, Steven came back with the Hot Wheels and sat between the two girls. He placed one of the toy cars onto his beloved's bump and rolled it down, all while making car noises. Roxanne could only giggle while he was doing this, much to Amethyst's annoyance. As Steven continued to push the Hot Wheels down the pregnant Gem's stomach one by one, he was dazing off into space. Amethyst herself seemed a bit relieved that for once, her child wasn't doing flips inside its leathery egg, until...

 _This is such a happy moment for me._ Roxanne thought as she looked on at the couple. _I'd hate for anything bad to happen._

Unfortunately, not a second passed by before Amethyst started leaking between her legs and experiencing twinges throughout her insides. It didn't take long for Steven to notice this and he started panicking.

"Roxanne, get help!" Steven cried. "I think Amethyst might be going into labor!"


	12. Chapter 12

"Tanzanite?" Roxanne called out. "Tanzanite! Tanzanite!"

The Jennifer Lawrence lookalike ran outside and caught the blue Gem's attention.

"Roxanne?" Tanzanite craned her neck to see who it was. "What are you doing?"

"Steven told me to get help!"

"Why?"

"He thinks Amethyst is going into labor!"

Tanzanite's eyes widened and all color drained from her face. "Oh dear Selenite..." she muttered rather nervously.

They walked back into the house and towards the couch where Steven was still sitting. Now however, he was cradling Amethyst while she was going through contractions and crying in pain.

"I'm sorry, Amethyst..." he cooed. "Just hold on. You're not leaving yet."

"Do we need to take her to the hospital?" Roxanne asked Tanzanite.

"I don't know," Tanzanite replied uneasily. "Amethyst, how frequently are you getting contractions?"

"Every fifteen minutes, I think," Amethyst spoke between sobbing fits.

"No, okay." Roxanne panicked a bit. "We've still got time, sorta. When's the rest of your gang supposed to come back?"

Tanzanite thought for a bit and responded, "I had them go out to the arcade for some fun. They should be heading here in a few minutes."

Just as she said that, Aquamarine came back with Topaz, Fluorite, Diamond and Jade right behind her. Topaz was clutching a stuffed white tiger towards herself while Jade carried the Gemlet in her arms.

"Well, I spoke too soon," Tanzanite said to herself.

"'Sup?" Aquamarine casually greeted the Gem leader.

"We don't have much time," Tanzanite answered quickly.

"What do you mean?"

"Amethyst's in labor."

Aquamarine turned to look at the violet Gem and then back at her leader. "Wow, uh... okay..."

"Hold on a second." Tanzanite rushed over to Amethyst's aide.

Amethyst was still crying from the insufferable pain when she saw Tanzanite looming over her. She looked up, the tears streaming down her face.

"Amethyst, everything'll be fine," the blue Gem assured her comrade. "I just need you to be calm. Grab my hand and breathe like you were told to."

The violet Gem roughly grasped Tanzanite's hand, and breathed in and out heavily a few times.

"Feel better?" Tanzanite asked.

Amethyst nodded her head and weakly smiled. It didn't take long before she started crying again.

"It hurts so much..." the laboring Gem sobbed.

"I know." the blue Gem responded empathically. "We'll have to go pretty soon. Just hold on for now."

*********************

A few hours later, when Amethyst was in full-blown labor, Tanzanite and the rest of the gang decided that now would be the perfect opportunity to get to the hospital. Greg had been recruited to drive everybody there, while Steven contacted the rest of the family (as well as his stepmother, stepsister, stepsister-in-law, and twin half-siblings) to meet them as soon as possible.

It wasn't long before the gang arrived at their destination. The first ones to head for the emergency room were Steven, Amethyst and Tanzanite.

"May I help you?" the receptionist asked.

"Yes, this woman here is about to give birth to our child and we need a wheelchair," Steven quickly answered while pointing to the violet Gem.

"Alright, but who's the other woman beside you?"

"Her mother."

Tanzanite just went along with it while the receptionist retrieved a wheelchair. She helped Steven get Amethyst into the wheelchair, all while the violet Gem kept breathing, and together they made their way towards the delivery room.

***********************************

Meanwhile, outside in the waiting room, the rest of the Gems sat with Roxanne and Greg while they tried to think of something to do.

"This is stupid," Aquamarine grumbled. "Why does it always take so long to give birth?"

Jade just shrugged her shoulders. "I don't have the answer to that, Aquamarine, but we just gotta be patient," she replied wearily.

"But it's just sooooo boring!"

"I know, but don't worry. We've got other people coming to join us."

"Yeah," Roxanne joined in. "'The more, the merrier,' people always say."

The cerulean-hued Gem let out a long, impatient sigh and leaned on Jade's shoulder. As she watched Aquamarine doze off, Jade petted her head and hoped that Amethyst would just give birth soon enough.

"Do you know when your wife Krissy's coming, Mr. Universe?" Roxanne asked Greg.

"Hopefully in a few minutes," the middle-aged man replied. "I believe she told me on our way here that she would be flying back from her record company in Las Vegas."

"Ah," Sadie's kid sister simply sounded. "Well, I hope everybody else hurries 'cause I'm not sure how much more I can take."

**************************************

Back in the delivery room, Tanzanite had already had Steven put on scrubs earlier. Now they were with Amethyst, sitting on either side of her to keep her company.

"You okay?" Steven asked his beloved.

"I guess," Amethyst winced while tears continuously ran down her cheeks. "I've never been in this much pain in my life." She yelped as another contraction hit her.

"I know, I know," Steven cooed while running his fingers through the violet Gem's thick hair.

"We're sorry to see you like this," Tanzanite quickly apologized. "Do you want anything?"

"Could you get me some frozen yogurt?" Amethyst managed to ask without letting yet another contraction interrupt her.

"Don't tell me you're still thinking about food," the blue Gem joked. She then said quickly, "But in all seriousness, yes I will."

She got up and left.

**********************************************

Back outside in the waiting room, Kristina Dee had just joined her husband. Kristina Dee was a black music mogul with dyed blonde hair that was straight but curled at the ends. Her lower jaw was pretty rounded out, her eyes adequately set into her skull, her lips plump like a small plantain, and her nose was as straight as it naturally could be. In other words, she could pass for NeNe Leakes.

"I came as soon as I could," Kristina told everybody else who was waiting with her. "Have I missed anything?"

"Nope." Aquamarine yawned. "Who would've thought waiting for somebody to give birth would be so boring?"

"No kidding," Jade concurred. "I'm not even sure how long this'll go."

"How long have we been sitting here anyway?"

"I dunno. Maybe forty-five minutes?"

"Agh! I hate this!"

Kristina sighed. This'd be one hell of a wait, and the complaining probably wouldn't help much.

*******************************

Meanwhile in the delivery room, Tanzanite had just come back with some choco-vanilla swirl frozen yogurt and given it to Amethyst. She watched her friend practically inhale the entire thing, all while the latter smiled in sheer pleasure. For once, the violet Gem seemed to have forgotten all about the pain she was in right now. But all good things must come to an end, for not long after she had eaten her treat, she screamed while yet another contraction came and went.

"Remind me again how we got here..." Amethyst muttered hoarsely.

After a while, it was finally time for Amethyst to push.

"I don't think I'm gonna like this," the violet Gem panted heavily. "I'm so afraid."

"I understand," the doctor answered her empathically. "But you've done a great job taking care of yourself and your baby, so everything should be fine."

"That's not what I meant. I don't want to have to go so soon..."

"Oh, I see..." The doctor suddenly remembered what happened to Crystal Gems when they gave birth. "Well, in that case, we're going to make sure your last experience is a good one. C'mon, let's do this."

"I don't think I can..." Now Amethyst was crying more than ever.

"Yes you can, Amethyst," Steven assured her. "If you could teach me how to shapeshift, then I'm sure you could have a baby. Isn't this just amazing?"

"I guess," Amethyst sniffled.

"Just push for us, okay?" Tanzanite asked of her friend.

Amethyst simply nodded her head and answered, "Okay."

The violet Gem started screaming at the top of her lungs as she pushed with all her might. She could be heard all the way into the waiting room, where by now most of the family had joined the gang.  
Kristina was now joined by her twenty-one-year-old biracial daughter Octavia (who, amusingly, looked almost exactly like her) and her wife of about a month Jenny, who was a member of the Pizza family. Joining them as well were the two-year-old biracial Universe twins Christian and Phaedra, Steven's great-aunt Carole and her children Elaine, Johnnie, and Parker; Elaine's daughter Gwen, Steven's aunt Adrienne and her husband Earl Kramer and their children Michelle, Uma and Brian.

"Wow, I'd hate to imagine what's happening down there..." Jenny said with a wolf whistle.

"Well, at least something's actually _happening_!" Aquamarine piped up.

It didn't take long before Gwen slapped her upside the head.

"Ow!" the cerulean Gem complained. "I was just saying!"

Kristina proceeded to snatch up her younger daughter and hold her close. As she was being held in her mother's arms, Phaedra pointed down the hall and asked worriedly, "Baby?"

"Yes, Faye," Kristina replied with a smile. "That screaming _is_ somebody having a baby. Don't worry, though, she'll be fine."

After a few hours of the excruciating process, now crying could be heard. Aquamarine beamed up because she no longer had to wait in agony for her friend, but at the same time she couldn't help but feel depressed about what'd also happened.

**************************************

Back in the delivery room, Amethyst had disappeared seemingly without a trace. She had given up her form to bring a tiny baby girl into this world. This baby had violet-tinged skin and dark, dark straight hair that would eventually kink out; she also, to some degree, resembled Rose Quartz and was chubby like Steven was when he was a baby.

Speaking of Steven, he picked the newborn up and started crying over Amethyst.

"I miss her, too, Steven," Tanzanite was consoling the sobbing kid as he held his daughter in his arms. "We all do."

"It's just not fair..." the sixteen-year-old continued sobbing.

"Death has never been fair, child, but it's just how the grand scheme of things works."

"I know, but it's still not fair..."


	13. Chapter 13

Two days later, Capri was allowed to go home with her father to the Crystal Temple. Sixteen-year-old Steven wanted to spend most of the day showing off his pride and joy rather than crying over Amethyst, so he did his best not to think about her too much. He tried to imagine how Connie would react if she wasn't living in Canada with her family right now, but it seemed like a rather daunting task since he hadn't seen her in four years, which quite frankly felt more like an eternity than anything else.

The first people to drop by were the Suzumiyas. Rumiko was the only one of Himika's children who wasn't there, since she and Ronaldo Fryman had gone on their honeymoon to Okinawa. Atari looked a little bit more enthusiastic than usual, Hitomi was overjoyed by the sight of the baby, Daisuke was excited about his first look at the child, and Juno seemed very curious about what the hub-bub was.

"She's so cute!" Hitomi squealed. She thought Capri was the cutest baby to ever exist. "Can I hold her?"

"Sure, but be careful," Steven warned.

He handed the newborn over to the fifteen-year-old girl and watched her as her motherly behavior kicked in. Atari smirked to herself as she watched her younger sister; as long as Hitomi was happy, she was happy too. The attitude spread towards Daisuke and Juno as well; they didn't really care if they didn't get to hold the baby yet.

"How's everybody?" Tanzanite asked as she walked into the room.

"Oh, we're fine!" Himika perked up. "Have you seen how adorable Capri is?"

"Yes, I have," the blue Gem replied with a bit of a laugh. Then she muttered, "I just wish Rose was here to see this. I think she would've really loved her."

Little did she know, though, that Rose had been with them this entire time. However, nobody could see her since she was a spirit. Regardless, the pink Gem floated right over to where Capri was and petted her head.

"Oh, Capri..." Rose spoke softly. "I just know you're going to be happy all your life. Good luck..."

She kissed her little granddaughter on the eyelids and then just disappeared. The kisses had sent Capri into a giggling fit, which confused everybody else in the room, but the child didn't care. As she'd grow up, she'd know that Rose was right and that she was continuing her legacy.


End file.
